Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Society of the Query

This is new to me as I just learned about (via Geert Lovink) the upcoming conference in Amsterdam on the Society of Inquiry. The event is organized by the Institute for Network Cultures. This is incredibly timely for anyone concerned with data, knowledge, access and creativity.

Here's a little about the purpose of the conference (Nov. 13-14, 2009):

With the Society of the Query conference -stop searching, start questioning-, the Institute of Network Cultures aims to critically reflect on the information society and the dominant role of the search engine in our culture. What does the dependency on the engine to manage the complex system of knowledge on the Internet mean? What alternatives exist? How can the increasingly centralized web be regulated? What is the future of interface design? By bringing together researchers, theorists and artists, the conference will examine the key issues that are emerging around web search, and contextualize developments within the fields of knowledge organization and information design.

This two-day Query conference aims to examine the key issues that are emerging around web search, and to contextualize developments within the fields of knowledge organization and information design. The Institute of Network Cultures aims to do so specifically by bringing together researchers, theorists and artists, creating room for speculation and open questions, as well as concrete projects and research. The questions this conference raises are:

  • How does the idea of machine understanding influence the fields of knowledge organization and information retrieval?
  • How is the legal framework surrounding search engines changing shape?
  • Is Google’s increased ubiquity affecting the production and dissemination of art and cultural practice?
  • What influence does the existing hegemony of a few large search engines exert on the traditional flow of knowledge and the diversity and accessibility of web content, and in what way might regulation be possible?
  • Considering developments in the fields of art and information architecture, how can we get to more sophisticated ways of interface design and the presentation of search results?
  • What alternative ways of search are visible on the software level, the network level and the user level that challenge the engine as the major search paradigm?

Conference themes

  • Society of the Query
  • Digital Civil Rights and Media Literacy
  • Alternative Search (1 and 2)
  • Googlization of Everything
  • Art and the Engine

For more information and registration for the event, please go to http://www.networkcultures.org/query

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Greenpoint Open Studios - this weekend 9/25-27


So this weekend begins the first open studio event for our little corner of Brooklyn. I'll be opening my space to show mostly works on paper and a few paintings that have just started so if you come you'll get to see some of the process. It looks like just around 90 artists will be participating which is incredible for a first effort. Also the local galleries will be hanging some works of those opening their doors to the public.

Here is the general program:

OPENING LAUNCH at TRANSMITTER PARK
Sept 25 7 - 9pm

AFTERPARTY AT COCO66

OPEN STUDIOS:
Sept 26 - 27 Noon - 6pm

OPENINGS AT PARTICIPATING GALLERIES:
Sept 26 6 - 8pm

AFTERPARTY AT GREENPOINT GALLERY

ARTISTS TALK AT GREENPOINT GALLERY
Sept 27 6 - 8pm

CLOSING PARTY AT COCO66

For the map and a complete directory of all artists please go to the Greenpoint Open Studios site. Pdf's are available there. See you this weekend.




image: HLIB

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Outside In - LaViola Bank Gallery


I had to take a break from this blog for a while due to some deadlines. One of the primary reasons was the preparation for the following exhibition - Outside In (curated by Mary Dailey Pattee) Come out and see the new paintings - 12 of them.

From the press release:

LaViolaBank Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of “Outside In,” a group exhibition curated by Mary Dailey Pattee and featuring the work of six artists: Daphne Arthur, Marina Berio, Diane Carr, Mira O’Brien, Leighton Pierce and Christopher Saunders.


Outside In is a multi-media exploration of the connection between real space and the landscape of the subjective mind. Drawing on land, sea, sky and the atmosphere of imagined vistas, the artists in this exhibition engage the landscape tradition as a means of addressing broader questions related to entropy, destruction and renewal in the contemporary world.


LaViola Bank Gallery

179 East Broadway NYC 10002

September 16 - October 18, 2009

Reception September 16, 6-9 pm





images from the series WhiteNoise